Umbra
First Post
After I mentioned my little old lady NPC who was just trying to walk to the next town to visit her sister yet generated 2 hours of roleplay for the party who felt obliged help her, BardStephenFox used the phrase "I had two encounters I considered throwaway encounters that the players loved" and gave two of his own examples...
I love both of these and want more! So what throwaway encounters have you used which grew into something more?
BardStephenFox said:One was a common ferryman. Brak was his name. He was slow but strong. Wore a big floppy hat. The PCs engaged him in conversation and mentioned they were adventurers. Brak mentioned that he once adventured. The PCs asked if he wanted to join them. In slow speaking horror, Brak turned them down. Taking off his hat, he said there were 'bigguns' out there and he would not adventure anymore. Once his hat was off his head, the PCs could see that part of his skull had been bitten and crushed.
They dropped the subject and noted that they didn't want to encounter any 'bigguns' anytime soon.
The other encounter was with a pot salesman trying to make a living. He had even hired a guard so he could make it through the lands that were plagued with undead. He didn't have enough money to not travel to the next town even though most of the other merchants weren't willing to make the trip.
The PCs were happy to tell him they had just finished clearing most of the bad things from the area. They swapped information on which towns were nearby and they even bought a cauldron from him. (Then the dumped all their gold into it to show off. Bastards!) I don't remember the merchants name, but we spent a lot longer on that encounter than I planned. I know a couple of the players remember the merchants name.
I love both of these and want more! So what throwaway encounters have you used which grew into something more?